Soap

 
   I love learning new things.  A friend told me about a soap making class she took and I was intrigued.  I joined another woman for class in a charming barn turned garden shop taught by an extraordinary woman.  Using a hot plate to heat the oils and a bowl filled with ice for the ice bath I began my journey.  There was no store bought soap for me any more.  I learned about the mixture of fats and lye.  I learned about the clay that could be added for different purposes.  I learned about herbs to add or not.  This was more than ten years ago.
     I have played with that original recipe ever since.  It has morphed over time as any good recipe does. It has become my own in subtle ways.  Though I have played with fragrance oils in the past I have come to using only essential oils in my soaps; organic essential oils.  The fragrance oils are too strong, too much like perfume that over powers and I am unsure of what is in them.  I really want to know what I am putting in and on my body and that of my family.
     My first playful combination was lavender & lime.  I gave a few bars out as gifts and it was well received.  Well enough that people started asking for it.  It is my best seller.  My family likes the citrus notes.  Hubby prefers lemongrass and the kids prefer sweet orange.  I'm a patchouli & sweet orange girl myself.  And though my father-in-love doesn't care for patchouli it is my mother-in-love's favorite.  One of my shimmy sisters said her son said patchouli smelled like dirtie hippies and so my favorite scent I call D's Dirtie Hippie.
     The newest combination is lemon & poppy seed.  A fun twist on a common muffin.  The poppy seeds stay intact and suspended in the soap making it lightly exfoliating.. It is great for the kitchen to rid your hands of any linger odors or after gardening to scrub off the dirt.
     I would love to hear what your favorite scent is.  Delight me with a comment.